Kohler project up for public hearing Wednesday

The public will have a chance to speak out about Kohler Co.'s controversial proposed golf course at a public hearing to be held by the Town of Wilson Plan Commission at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, at the Town Hall, 5935 S. Business Drive.

The only item on the agenda is Kohler's request for a conditional use permit to build an 18-hole golf course on 247 acres of land it owns adjacent to Kohler-Andrae State Park in the town. The company needs approval to move ahead with the project.

According to the application Kohler submitted to the Town of Wilson, four of the holes would be along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and the campus would include a clubhouse with a restaurant and retail store.

In order for the plan to work, the company would need to access its acreage by a two-lane private road located off South 12th Street that cuts across the northern section of the state park near the Black River trail system.

In addition, the company has proposed building a maintenance building and turf nursery on state park property, just off the proposed access road.

The plan has alarmed some Wilson residents so much that they have formed a group called Friends of the Black River Forest and are working to scuttle Kohler's project.

Mary Faydash, co-spokeswoman for the group, said a golf course would further endanger the already fragile Black River and would do tremendous harm to the forest and dunes.

The group has started a petition on change.org, which asks the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to deny both Kohler's request for an easement across public lands and the request to build the maintenance shed on public land.

"The DNR must tell the Kohler Company they can not destroy wetlands, bulldoze rare dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline, clear cut over 125 acres of forest and use public lands for a private, for-profit, golf course," the petition reads.

So far, the online petition has about 2,000 signatures.

Faydash said the Town Board has the authority to say no to the golf course because of the harm it would do to the environment.

"We sent (the Town Board and Plan Commission) a 13-page letter about the things we want them to be sure and do — an environmental impact statement and other things, outlining the fact we clearly have all the power, our town has the power to say no," Faydash said. "The board refuses to respond to us. We asked for a response by July 7, they won't respond."

Town Chairman Dave Gartman, who is not a member of the Plan Commission, said he'll attend Wednesday's meeting to learn as much as he can about the company's proposal.

"It's very early," Gartman said. "There were a lot of things (that came up) at the last meeting already that need to be presented yet by the golf course proposal people. There are a lot of things I'm not sure about either. We all are looking for information."

Faydash said the Friends of the Black River Forest group has requested that the Plan Commission move the meeting to a larger space out of concern that limited parking would force many of those attending to park along the sides of South Business Drive to attend the meeting.

"We're pretty concerned about the safety issues and the fact that people will not be able to be heard," Faydash said. "There are a lot of people who can't walk that distance down Business Drive. We're kind of concerned about it and they've just denied our request."

As of Friday afternoon, the meeting was still scheduled to be held at the Town Hall. Gartman said a decision to relocate the meeting would be up to the Plan Commission.

Plan Commission Chairman Doug Fuller wasn't available for comment.

While the town could take a vote to recommend approval or denial of the project following the public hearing, Town Attorney John St. Peter said the Plan Commission would likely decide to have more meetings on the topic.

"Something as complicated as this, they're likely to have more than one public hearing," St Peter said. "This is probably just one of multiple public hearings, but I don't know that."

Once the Plan Commission makes a recommendation to deny or approve, the final say would be up to the full Town Board.

Even if it gets permission from the town, Kohler Co. will still have to get through several layers of state and federal approval in order to use state park land for its access road and maintenance shed.

Current state administrative rules prohibit the sale of state park land. In addition, because federal funds have been used to develop and operate the park, any land taken out of public use has to be replaced with land of equal value and utility under federal law.